Babel Rising is based on the iOS game of the same name, but has been graphically enhanced for the PS3. It also adds Playstation Move controls into the works, which should have made the game more enjoyable and easier to play, however in practise you rarely have to move the controller much around the screen, and as the Move also controls the camera position, it also means that some of the camera angles are annoyingly inaccurate to where the action is taking place.

The first impression I had of this new download from PSN was that it reminded me of the classic Lemmings mixed with any stock Tower Defence game. It’s a 350mb or so download with a patch coming in at around 200mb as soon as you’ve downloaded the main game.

The simple idea of the game is to stop the little Egyptian dudes from building the tower to the very top of the screen. You, as God, are given control of The various elements (fire, water, air and earth) and must use these to stop the assent of the Egyptian tower builders. There are a number of modes of play, most notably and most used is the Campaign Mode in which you are given various tasks to complete such as kill a number of priests or last for a certain time limit. It’s a fun campaign, but doesn’t really change too much from level to level.

There is also a never-ending mode which means you play until the Egyptians finally build the tower, and there are various multiplayer modes which have you replicating the campaign modes to some degree. As mentioned, everything is controlled by the Move controller, and in some ways this is the downfall of this game.

You can fire your elements and change between them once they recharge. This may mean sending floods of water, dropping fire-balls, dropping stones from above or whipping up a storm to kill the on-coming Egyptian builders. Amongst the little dudes are characters carrying a purple haze. Hit these and your weapon system is jammed for a limited time. For the majority of the time you can literally keep the tower entrance in site and just mash the buttons to kill everything in site. If the builders do get past you, they eventually build layer upon layer until the tower is complete, however even on the hardest levels you can mash the buttons on your Move and now and again wave it and you will stop the invasion.

Babel Rising Review (PSN)

There are some distractions that happen during game play, such as navel invasions and mini-towers being built by the invaders, but one swift movement of your move usually dispatches them with little problem. For some reason the game is just not as fun as it could have been, and it all feels like a chore more than an exciting Move game.

Graphically the game has had a good lick of paint from its iOS sibling and benefits from a crisp, cartoony style that really makes the game shine. Sonically the game is on a par with some of the lower priced downloadable games, meaning it fits the game and does the job nicely. Overall though the graphics and sound do little to entice you into coming back for more, and do get a bit repetitive as the game progresses. The game offers trophies galore, and you seem to acquire them without actually doing much.

Sadly, Babel Rising is not the game it was on mobile platforms. Even after hours of playing the game properly (ie not button bashing), it just doesn’t get frantic enough to make your heart race and make you want to come back and play. It just makes you think “why am I doing this again?”. Babel Rising is an average game that doesn’t get better the more you play it, although I can appreciate that some people will enjoy this type of game more than others.

Overall Ratings – Babel Rising (PS3)

Gameplay:

6/10

Story:

6/10

Graphics:

7/10

Sound:

7/10

OVERALL SCORE:

65%

Mark Adams been gaming since 1977 and owned almost every console since the original Pong machine. Gaming has always been part of his life and he enjoys a variety of games and his mind is always open to new experiences in the gaming world. Over the years he has written gaming articles for blogs and local newspapers, and he always tries and add something a little bit different from your usual review. He works in IT for a small local company in Wales, and when he's not working, he's gaming!